Remo Crystal Doumbek, 8", Internal Tuning, Amethyst Citrine

I have been hesitant to delve into the realm of the solo sized doumbek drum. Still being of the beginning-intermediate skill level, the size of the head seemed too small to me, and I don't even have large hands. But I recently tested out the Remo Crystal Doumbek, the 8" internal tuning model. This smaller doumbek drum really surprised me, not only with its bold and responsive sound, but just how darn easy and comfortable it is to actually play. Pops and slaps come easy on the 8" Skyndeep head of this great little doumbek. The teks and kas are not metallic and ringy like most aluminum doumbeks, but rather have a bright yet warm tone, reminiscent of a small clay darbuka. You will hear just a small amount of slightly ringy overtones. It actually did take a little extra coaxing for the more powerful teks, but as you become acustomed to the feel of the drum, the teks and kas start to come easier, resulting in a nice woody/ ceramic sound. I am just learning some Turkish split finger technique, and was able to get good results on this Remo Crystal 8". Click on the following link to see me demonstrating on this Remo doumbek.

The Crystal series of doumbeks by Remo are slightly lighter in weight than the Soloist series, but don't be under the impression that these are light and flimsy drums. This is the smallest and lightest of the Crystal Internal Tuning models, and it still weighs in at just over 7lb/ 3.18kg. It feels secure on my lap, yet it is light enough to be playable by smaller adults and older children. The Remo Skyndeep head is a revolutionary synthetic drum head created by the pioneer of synthetic head technology. Doumbek players around the world rave about the sound and response of these unique drum heads. They were designed to look, feel and sound much like an actual fish skin head, with a very slight texture, and amazing response to the touch. And being a synthetic head, they are not prone to changes in humidity levels and weather, and maintain their pitch in all situations. This makes the Remo doumbek very convenient for travel, camping, beach outings, or the back yard!

The "Designer's Touch fabric finishes" on the Crystal doumbeks are… colorful. Festive and wild are two more descriptions that come to mind. At first I was actually a bit put off by the bright colors, not necessarily the design. The designs are actually pretty creative and pleasing. The patterns on this drum look somewhat like snake scales, with darker areas of purples and blues balanced with lighter areas of orange and yellow. There is also a subltle amount of glitter adorning the outside and continuing into the dark purple colored interior. It is definitely an attention grabbing drum, not only visually, but more importantly for how good it sounds. The smooth rounded bearing edge and recessed bolts allow for extended sessions of comfortable playing. In a word, it plays "buttery".

So if you are looking for a versatile and durable drum that travels well, is easy to play, is light on the wallet and sounds great, look no further than the 8" Internal Tuning Remo Crystal Doumbek. Quality constructed in the USA, the Remo line of percussion instruments continue to deliver the consistent affordable quality you have come to expect from them. This great doumbek is no exception to that.

Cairo Caravan 2011

I recently experienced Cairo Caravan aboard the famous Queen Mary ship, anchored in Long Beach Harbor, California. This 3 day event is organized and hosted every year by MECDA, the Middle Eastern Culture and Dance Association. The primary focus of the event is belly dancing, and there are 3 stages located on the 3 levels that are used, where throughout the day there are amazing performances. In addition, they have workshops and seminars by professional dancers from around the country and world.

The other smaller related focus of Cairo Caravan is on Middle Eastern drumming and percussion, and this is what sparked my interest in the first place. The stars of the weekend for me were Raquy Danziger and Liron Peled, otherwise known as Raquy and the Cavemen. They are professional drummers that have performed and taught workshops around world. Raquy hails from Brooklyn, NY and Liron is from Israel originally. They gave several outstanding performances and workshops throughout the weekend. Raquy plays the doumbek drum and the Kemenche style spike fiddle. She has studied and performed in Egypt with the likes of Said El Artist. Raquy lives part time in Turkey, where she performs as well as studies with master darbuka player Bunjamin Olgucan. Liron has played with Omar Faruk, among many others. His mastery of the "Boom-bek" (large brass doumbek) and many other percussion instruments is impressive. They both also "throat sing", which really blew me away. I had the great pleasure to meet them early in the weekend, as I was involved as an instrument vendor and also stayed aboard the ship for the entire weekend. We hit it off right away, and I had many great times with these super kind and fun people. Raquy is a special person, in touch with her "true self". She practices meditation and yoga regularly, and this reflects in her caring, kind nature, as well as her amazing musical ability. Her energy is completely contagious, and she has many affectionate students that attend her workshops regularly and also perform with her.

There was also a stage located just outside the ship, where there were drumming and belly dancing performances all day. I performed there with Cairo Beats, a collection of doumbek drumming students from my home San Diego that study under Frank Lazzaro. Frank has been on the drumming scene in SD for years, and has performed with some of the greats, including oud master John Bilezikjian. He plays doumbek and percussion with the Middle Earth Ensemble, as well as a full blown kit with the legendary Travel Agents. His drumming abilities span the globe, in that he is a master of many disciplines, including African, Middle Eastern and Latin percussion. He has also been a friend of mine for at least the last ten years.

I had a vendor's table at this great event, representing my online music store Global Musical Instruments. I offered many types of instruments there, with the emphasis being on Middle Eastern percussion. Lots of frame drums, tambourines, riqs, doumbeks, and even a sensemia!

I will definitely be back to Cairo Caravan again next year. The staff that puts it on are so great, and I made many fond connections with so many great people such as organizers Julie, Amy and Blume. Look for the Global Musical Instruments booth, where we will again be selling instruments and sharing great times with the friendly folks there.

The Native American Flute Soothes the Senses

I love it when I can pick up a completely unfamiliar instrument and easily achieve a nice tone. Some musical instruments just naturally allow one to do this with very little effort or skill necessary. A good example of this would be a keyboard type instrument. You simply press the keys and the machine does the rest. Other instruments are by their design not quite so simple. Flutes are generally in this later category. The most difficult thing to do usually is to control the breath into the flute to achieve a good sound. This is especially true of those types of flutes that require one to blow across the hole, either from the side or across the end, holding the flute at an angle. Both these types of flutes require a certain amount of skill to master, and often cause the novice to give up.
So when I picked up a most attractive cedar flute at the NAMM show this year at my supplier's booth, I assumed that I would not be able to get a decent tone out of it. Flutes are for flute players. I'm a bassist and percussionist. Ed, the technical guru and woodworker at Mid-East Mfg. noticed that I was simply examining the flute and suggested I give it a try. I stammered something about being a bass player, but he insisted. The first thing I noticed about this stunning hand crafted flute is that the hole where you blow is just that, a hole.
"Just blow gently into the end", Ed instructed, "it's simple, no need to blow across the top". He showed me how to line up the flute in my hands, the first three fingers of each hand covering the six holes, right hand below the left. It is tuned to the A minor pentatonic scale, making the fingering easy to learn, creating the mellow sound unique to Native American Flutes. I could not believe how simple it was to get the convincing tone. Ed then showed me some simple tricks like using your tongue to get a quavering effect on the drawn out notes. In no time, I was feeling like a real pro. The pentatonic scale makes the flute intuitive to play. Any combination of notes works, allowing the player the freedom to create natural sounding melodies with ease.
This Native American style flute is a beautiful work of craftsmanship. It is fashioned from solid pieces of aromatic cedar. As you hold and warm it in your hands and play, the flute begins to emit wonderful cedar aromas. It is initialed and numbered by the artist, Native American flute maker Dana Ross, who has Chikasaw heritage. He creates a line of fine wooden flutes utilizing traditional Chikasaw building techniques.

This and other fine ethnic instruments can be found for purchase at GlobalMusicalInstruments.com

The Remo Bendir Brings the Sounds of North Africa to You

Hailing from North Africa, the bendir or bandir is a frame drum with an ancient history. It has been used by the Sufi in their ceremonies for over a thousand years. Their traditions make use of music, rhythm and dance to achieve higher states of consciousness. The bendir, with it's particular buzzing tone, is believed to accentuate these states. There is a snare stretched along the inside surface of the bendir frame drum head consisting traditionally of gut line. Contemporary bendirs often utilize synthetic material such as fishing line which serves the same purpose. As the player strikes the head on the outside, along with the beat of the drum comes a buzzing tone that has a remarkable drone like quality.

Remo has developed an excellent version that captures the original feel, sound and look of the traditional bendir, but with several advantages. The first is the use of their industry leading synthetic head technology. The Remo Bendir is equipped with a fixed Fiberskyn 3 head, which has been set to the optimum tension in relation to the dimensions of the frame of the drum, utilizing Remo's patented PTS (Pre Tuned System). And since the head is synthetic, it won't be affected by weather and humidity conditions, as is the case with natural hide heads. This is a major advantage to the working musician who counts on his or her instrument to be ready to play no matter where the road may lead them.

The next big difference in the Remo Bendir compared to traditional bendirs is the use of their exclusive Acousticon material. This is made of recycled hard wood fibers which they use to construct their sturdy drum frames. One advantage of this material is that it is not prone to warpage as can be the case with solid wood instruments, due to the grain structure and wood's natural tendency to move even after being dried. With Acousticon you get even tone distribution with none of the "dead spots" that can occasionally plague wood instruments. It is lightweight as well, a real advantage for frame drummers who hold the instrument upright for extended periods of time. The Remo version of this ancient traditional frame drum has an ingenious way of achieving the snare sound that creates the distinct bendir sound. They have a clear thin plastic line that runs double across the inside of the head as it loops back at one end and is tunable and/or removable with the hardware found on the other side attached to the outside of the frame drum shell. (see photo)

I find the Remo Bendir to be meditative and habit-forming, in a good way. The deep shell gives the drum excellent warm mid-bass punch with good sustain, and the edge tek tones have a nice solid ring. The Fiberskyn 3 head projects well, and it's warm sound eliminate potential harsh bright tones. Remo really did their homework to create a version of the bendir that is both completely authentic looking, sounding and playing. And as a real bonus, the synthetic head allows you to achieve consistent tone in just about any location and humidity.

To hear and see the Remo Bendir in action, just click on the Youtube video link below:

Remo Bendir Video

You can purchase your Remo Bendir by visiting http://www.GlobalMusicalInstruments.com

The Electric Frame Oud, a Practical Solution for the Working Musician.

The Oud is the essential stringed instrument of Middle Eastern and North African music. With it's large pear-shaped body and short fretless neck, topped with the distinct tilted back headstock, the oud stands out. Historically, the oud shares it's ancestry with the European Lute.

But this is not a history lesson about this instrument. It is instead, an examination of a remarkable modern version of this ancient instrument. Influenced no doubt by the electric guitar, the electric frame oud has emerged in recent years. These versatile versions of the oud use for a body a wood frame, with the familiar pear shape, but shallow. Similar then to an electric guitar, the body of the oud is a fairly narrow frame, often with empty space cut-outs between the outer edge of the body and the neck, which extend into the center section of wood that continues to the bridge and and back of the body. And like an electric guitar depends on the electronics and pick-ups to transmit the sound to an amplification system, like-wise the electric frame oud utilizes a pick-up, usually the Piezo type which picks up the sound in the bridge and transmits it to a built-in pre-amp system. Then the sound travels via a standard guitar cord to the sound system or guitar amplifier.

The model I recently tried out was hand crafted by Morad Turki in Egypt. This electric frame oud features a Soho Piezo ceramic pickup with a Soho CT-4 4-band equalizer with volume control and low battery indicator. This allows the player complete control of the volume and tone of the instrument. For live performance and recording situations this is advantageous. And for the traveling musician, the convenience of the slim profile of the instrument is a real blessing, not only for the space savings, but the sturdiness factor as well. Acoustic ouds have a large delicate wood body, requiring a large case, and are inherently much more fragile than a solid wood body electric oud.

This Turki oud has an attractive black metallic pearl finish, and a wonderful teak fingerboard, whose wood grain structure is very attractive and rich looking. The overall finish is good, with a good amount of attention to details. The headstock has the traditional tilted back shape, but is conveniently fitted with modern metal gear-type tuners. These make tuning much easier than the traditional wood peg type tuners found on traditional ouds. They will also hold their tuning very well, which is not always the case with the peg type.

Plugged in, the sound of the pick up is very responsive and also quiet, meaning there is very little to no background hiss noise noticable when not playing. The electronics, pickup and EQ section work flawlessly, providing a nice clean rich tone, that sounds convincingly like a traditional oud, just conveniently amplified. The tone and volume are completely controllable with the controls found just below the bridge on the body for easy access. The equalizer section is especially impressive, allowing the player to completely sculpt the tone of the oud. There are four separate EQ sections, arranged by frequency, namely bass, mid, high, and presence. These are presented as convenient sliders, that act as cut and boost. So the middle position on the slider is flat, and you boost that frequency one way, and cut it by going below the middle position. If it sounds complicated it really is not at all, it's easy to grasp the concept when you fiddle with the sliders a bit. You will also discover that they are very sensitive, and can alter the tone greatly.

The weight of the electric frame oud is fairly light, less than the average electric guitar, but more than an acoustic oud. The combination of cool looks, convenience, playability and sound make this a great oud for all players, especially those that perform, record, or travel. You will be impressed with the Morad Turki Electric Frame Oud, which is available by visiting http://www.GlobalMusicalInstruments.com
Watch my video review of the Morad Turki Electric Oud by clicking on the link below, or by clicking on the "YouTube Videos" tab located at the top of this page.
Electric Oud Video Review

Bellydance Show Review: The Indigo in Serpent Rouge

I recently attended a really fascinating belly dance show at the Casbah in San Diego, California. It was billed as "Le Serpent Rouge: An Evening of Beguiling Dance and Strangely Familiar Music", and it included the fine belly dancing of world-renowned dancers Rachel Brice, Zoe Jakes, and Mardi Love, a belly dance company collectively known as "The Indigo". In describing their dancing, as they say on their website "The Indigo has created and defined a new style of belly dance, embracing the roots of middle eastern dance while incorporating an aesthetic reminiscent of early twentieth century cabarets and world's fairs."

I really enjoyed the show not only because of the amazing and beautiful dancing, but also for the music and old style cabaret acts. The Crow Quill Night Owls is the name of the assemblage of musicians who play an array of interesting older looking instruments. They include a washboard, acoustic guitar, and banjo. The "drum kit" consists of a suitcase for a kick drum (don't ask me how that works, but it sounds pretty solid), and various other percussive devices. The bass guitar is actually a stick attached to a wash tub with one string that is plucked while varying the tension on the upright stick. Think jug band of the Old South, and yes there is a jug too. The band both accompanies the dancers and fills the gaps in the dancing with a mixture of raucous throw downs and melancholy comedic crooners. The Gallus Brothers ("drums" and "bass"), also provide a couple cabaret style crazy acts involving balancing strangely on each other while singing a song together. It was fascinating to watch if not slightly disturbing.

The real magic is in the entrancing dancing provided by 3 world-class belly dancers. Rachel Brice is a member of the world-famous Bellydance Superstars, as is Zoe Jakes and Mardi Love. Rachel formed the Indigo Dance Company in 2003. She has been performing since 1990 and teaching since 1996. Rachel's graceful serpentine style of movement lends itself perfectly to this project. Her entire body expresses fluidity.

Zoe Jakes' charisma is undeniable. She captures the audience with her mesmerizing eyes and grace. Love's command of belly dance technique is also a pleasure to watch. The dancers perform together in wonderful choreographed routines, and there are also unique solo dances.

Enjoy this YouTube video clip I filmed at the show featuring Zoe Jakes (click on the link below):

Zoe Jakes at the Casbah

Belly dancing has become very popular. It is a great form of exercise and for keeping limber. It's also a wonderful way to meet other people. To purchase a variety of bellydance products, including our famous finger zills, please visit our webstore, specializing in ethnic musical instruments and related products:

http://www.GlobalMusicalInstruments.com

Tamburiq Magic

The Tamburiq is the latest creation from respected percussion company REMO. This tambourine frame drum is a "hybrid", combining the sound and feel of a Italian Tamburelo and a Egyptian Riq. What results is an amazing instrument that is a joy to play, responsive, lightweight and like nothing else.

When I first opened the package containing the REMO Tamburiq, I was a bit surprised at the size of it. The Acousticon frame measures 12 inches in diameter, so it seemed a little non user friendly. That was until I picked it up and held it. Weighing in at only just over 1.5 LB, the Tamburiq feels very comfortable to hold, and I was able to play it for long periods of time without getting tired. The next thing I noticed was the quality of the German zils/cymbals on it. There are 7 sets of these in one row along the edge of the frame, and they sound very nice. Just the right balance of tone, not too sharp, yet not dull sounding at all. Then I fell in love with the fantastic Skyndeep "Orange Fish" head on the Tamburiq. It is part of the latest innovations in head technology that REMO has developed for his "Global Frame Drums and Tambourines" line. This head has a similar feel and sound of an actual fish skin, but is synthetic. It also has a slight texture, thanks to their Duratec process. The image (while perhaps a bit bright), is embedded into the skin surface, and will not wear off. But the key is the sound of it. The frame of the Tamburiq, as mentioned before, is of their famous Acousticon material, fashioned from recycled hardwoods, resulting in consistent tone and strength, with no weak or "dead" spots. It is finished with a very attracted "Antique" dark brown stain with faux wood grains.

The REMO Tamburiq's Skyndeep head is fixed, yet is inside tunable, allowing for a variety of head tones, depending on the style of music you are playing. I prefer the tighter tone, more similar to an Egyptian Riq, but it can be tuned down for Tamburelo and other sounds. Once you have it set, the synthetic nature of the head will allow it to keep its tune, despite humidity and weather conditions.

I really fell in love with the variety of tones and playing styles that can be achieved with the REMO Tamburiq. It can be played in the traditional Cabaret and standard styles of Egyptian and Turkish riq playing, or it can be simply played like a tambourine. Also, it is easy to play on the lap, or even like a Tar in the standing position. Any way you play it, this incredible instrument is bound to become one of your favorites in your collection.

Please visit the Videos section of this Blog page to view YouTube video reviews of this amazing new instrument. It is available for purchase at Global Musical Instruments by clicking here.